Analyse This: How Data Analytics for Recruitment Is Taking Over

16th October 2014

A recent study has revealed that more than half of new employees are let go within eighteen months due to personality clashes within the company. This has prompted a change in recruitment methods, which are now looking more into the analytical side rather than simply recruiting due to job skills. Here, we take a look at data-based recruiting and how it is changing the face of employment.

Dud CandidatesEmployers have previously spoken about the lack of core skills among young people looking for work, and now it appears that this view has extended to a wider range of candidates. Whereas with young people, it appears to be a lack of communication skills and the inability to function to maximum potential within a workplace, a study by Forbes has revealed that personality clashes at any age or stage of employment could lead to dismissal after just eighteen months. This is due to the focus being put squarely on a candidate’s qualifications and work-based abilities rather on their personal character and how they can best fit within a company dynamic.

Hiring the wrong person for the job can be a very expensive mistake to make, not just for the company but for the candidate as well, who is now forced to look elsewhere for suitable work. This leaves another empty position which needs to be filled appropriately in order to avoid further loss of money and productivity. Many companies are therefore looking elsewhere to find ways of more accurately recruiting staff, starting with data analytics. Some businesses are looking at a candidate’s online data trail to best see how they will fit within a company and many are looking at more scientific methods of determining suitability for a role. This involves using algorithms to analyse CVs with regards to aspects such as sentence structure and seeing how individuals write to determine aspects of their personality.

New MethodsThe traditional methods of recruiting are being updated for a modern society and candidates’ skills can be measured in an entirely new way. The analysis of a CV is one way of ‘reading between the lines’ to try and discover personality traits before an interview is conducted, however there are more intricate ways of gaining such information. The mobile app world has become a huge business and recruiters are utilising downloadable games in order to best determine what areas of work a candidate suits best and what aspects of their personality can be discovered through playing the game. For instance, a game called Wasabi Waiter – from Silicon Valley start-up Knack – requests the player to run a restaurant, serve food to customers and deal with customer questions and complaints. Through playing this game, the company is able to work out very telling aspects of a candidate’s personality, such as their skills of communication, ability to deal with a changing environment and how versed they are in problem-solving. The candidates guard is let down and they therefore show their true selves rather than the person they present on paper or in an interview.

New RecruitmentOf course, discovering information via data analytics and app-based games means that the world of recruitment is changing and, with that, many agencies will be forced to change the way the work in order to be ahead of the game. For many agencies, flat fee recruitment has been the method through which clients are charged, however this notion is not the best solution to the problem of finding candidates lasting work. Although flat fee recruitment may seem tempting at first due to the original headline cost, there are many hidden features that can cause a greater cost to the company than originally thought.

Unfortunately, many fixed fee agencies are blocked by the constraints of job boards meaning that their client reach is stunted and the best person for the job may slip through their fingers. Moreover, a great deal of the legwork is passed from the recruiter to the employer, from wading through irrelevant CVs to arranging interviews and managing the flow of candidates. Flat fee recruitment can be particularly costly regarding candidates who do not reach their full potential after being employed; if there are personality clashes or the research into the candidate’s skills was not rigid enough, they will be forced to leave and, with flat fee recruiting, the cost is left to the company rather than the recruitment agency.

This suggests that more modern low cost recruitment agencies have the ability to measure up and work alongside these new scientific methods of hiring, helping to put the right person in the right job and avoid costly hiring mistakes.

"The mobile app world has become a huge business and recruiters are utilising downloadable games in order to best determine what areas of work a candidate suits best and what aspects of their personality can be discovered through playing the game."

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